Driving means for spring motors



A. v. WILSON.

DRIVING MEANS FOR SPRING MOTORS. APPLICATION FILED p.25, 1918.

1 405, 49 Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

INVENTOR v dtlex'arzderli. il-

WITNESSES v A TTORNEYS PATENT OFFICE.

V ALEXANDER V. WILSON, OF BAR HARBOR, MAINE.

DRIVING MEANS FOR SPRING MOTORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Fen-7, 1922.

Application filed January 26,1918. Serial No. 213,986.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER V.[W1L- soN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Bar Harbor, in the county of Hancock and Stateof Maine, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Driving Meansfor Spring Motors, of which the following is a specification.-

My invention relates to improvements in motors, being more particularlyan improvement in spring motors, and it consists in the constructions,combinations and arrangements herein described and claimed. An object ofmy invention is to provide a motor including a power spring which isadapted to drive a power shaft, and which is arranged to berewound-either continuously by a suitable winding mechanism, orintermittently by a coacting strike plate and lever arrangement.

Another object of the invention isto provide a spring motor as describedincluding a rewinding lever with an arrangement of strike'plat'es sodisposed ina floor or other surface, that persons walking across thestrike plate willcause by their weight, the automatic rewinding of thespring. I

Another object of the'invention consists.

in the peculiar formation of the double action'pawl which is so designedto always engage the ratchet irrespective of its circumferentialrelationship to the ratchet.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification,reference being had, to the accompanying drawing in which: I

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the spring motor.

Figure 2 1s a cross section on the hne 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a detail section ofthe' drive v shaft with and Figure 1 is adetail view of the double actthe coacting ratchet and spring;

ing pawl.

In carrying out my invention I provide a the ends. The purpose of thepower shaft 1 is tq provide the medium through which the power generatedby the power spring is transferred to an external employment. To thisend either the large gear or the cranks described may be used, and if"it be not desirable to use these devices, other and more suitable meansfor taking off the power may be connected with the shaft.

'- Mounted in a bearing 7 in one of the standards 3 is a drive shaft 8with a square the spring. Upon unwinding of the spring,

the drive shaft 8 is driven in a counterclockwise direction and thepower thus derived is taken off by-an arrangement of gears havingconnection with the power shaft 1. I

This arrangement of gears includes the master gear 13 loose upon thedrive shaft 8 adjacent to the power spring 12. The master gear 13 mesheswith a pinion '14. onthe power shaft 1. Fixed uponthe drive shaft 8 atthe other side of the master gear 13' is a broad ratchet 15. The ratchet15 is made relatively broad as will be observed by compawl shown inFigure 3, for the'purpose of accommodating the operating lever about tobe described.

The double acting pawl 16 is pivoted at 17 to a hub or boss on one ofthe spokes of the master gear 13. The heels 18 and 18 of the pawl engagethe teeth of the ratchet and constitute the'medium through which themaster gear 13is rotated in the counter clockwise direction uponunwinding of the power spring 12. The pawl 16 is of a pcculiar deslgn asshown in Figure 4, in that it includes a head 19 making the pawlheavieron one side of the pivot than on the other; Y

This peculiar design was adopted after considerable experimentation, andis found to possess the important and necessary feature of holdingeither one or the other of the heels in contact with an adjacent toothof the ratchet, irrespective of the circumferential relationship of thepawl to the .ment mechanism.

Fulcrumed in a bracket 20 on a movable standard 21 is an operating lever22 with a pawl 23 on one end for driving the ratchet and drive shaftaround. The lever 22 has a series ofholes 24L sothat the leverage may beadjusted. 'The standard 21 has a square projection which fits into anyone of a series of square recesses 25 in the platform 4. These recessesare directly below the holes 24:, this arrangement preserving the properlocation of the pawl 23 with respect to the ratchet 15, no matter towhich of the adjustments the standard 21 is moved. The

L pawl 23 is mounted in a bracket on the, end 35 of thelever. 22 and aspring presses the pawl into contact with the ratchet.

Disposed on the end of the lever 22,'is a strike plate 26. In thepresent instance the strike plate 26 is exposed-in an opening'in thefloor 27, the illustration being intended to show that the lever 22 issusceptible to being depressed a certain distance each time a personsteps on the strike plate. By this means actual power represented by theweight-of the person and otherwise totally lost, is stored in the powerspring 12 as will be readily understood in Figure 2. A coil spring 28disposed between the end of the lever 22 and an abutment 29, serves toprevent the sudden descentof the lever upon being stepped on, and alsoto return the strike plate to its former position in the floor opening.

A stop 30 limits the downward movement of the front end of the lever.Thestop 3O 1 is adjustable by meansof the set screw 31 which blndsagainst the stop where the stop passes through the square collar on theabutment 29. The strike plate 26 may also be arranged alongside of arailroad track in such a position that the flange of the wheel 32 willdepress the end of. the lever and accordingly operate the spring motor.The obvious advantage of such an arrangement is, that the lever will bepressed many times during the passage of a train, conse quently offeringa ready means for again storing considerable energy otherwise lost.

The operation of the spring motor will be readily understood fromtheforegoing description, but a brief review isthought to be r ofadvantage. One of the important features of the invention consists ofthe adaptability of the device to such circumstances where it mayconveniently be employed or installed to obtain the benefit of-thesuccessive depressions of the operating lever as for instance, bypersons walking across the floor, while the arrangement of the strikeplate 26 on the end of the lever in the present instance is of thesimplest form, in actual practice, the strike plates may be so arrangeda 'in a floor that the weight of the persons walking across the floormay be utilized to the best advantage. Similarly, the strike plates inthe event that a plurality is used,

may be arranged alongside of a railroad track to multiply thedepressions'of the operating lever 22 and consequently obtain manyrewinding impulses for the spring.

The reciprocations of the operating lever 22 revolve the drive shaft 8in a clockwise direction, throughthe medium of the pawl 23 and-theratchet 15. The power spring 12 is thus wound. Upon unwinding of thespring, the'drive shaft 8 is rotated in-a counter-clockwise direction,whereupon the power shaft 1 is driven in a clockwise direction throughthe medium of the master gear 13' and pinion-14:. Although the mastergear 13 is loose upon the drive shaft 8, the

constant engagement of one of the heels of the pawl 16 with the ratchet15,-constitutes a fixed connection between the drive shaft and themaster gear during the unwinding of the power spring.

While the construction and-arrangement of the motor as hereinbefore'described,is

that of a generally preferred form, ob-

viously, modifications and changes may be made without departing fromthe spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.

I claim V V 1. In a spring motor, the combination of the drive shaft, aratchet fixed on the drive shaft, a master gear loose on the drive shaftadjacent to the ratchet, and a pawl pivoted to the master gear, saidpawl in-- cluding a pair of heels one of the heels being disposed midwayof a pairof the ratchet teeth while the other is in engagement with atooth, and a head embodied in the pawl for holding one or the other ofthe heels in contact with an adjacent tooth irrespective of thecircumferentialposition of thepawl. V, I

2. The combination of a driving ratchet of aspring motor, and an adjacently pivoted pawl with a ratchet en agingheel at each side of thepivot,'pr0vi ed with a weighted portion arranged to hold one of theheels in engagement with the ratchet regardless of the circumferentialposition of the pawl with respect to the ratchet.

3. The'combination of a master gear in a spring motor, a drivingratchet, and a double-heeled pawl pivotally mounted on said gear, with aweighted portion arranged 10 to hold one of the heels in engagement withthe ratchet regardless of the clrcumferential position of the pawl withrespect to the

